The Relevance of the Scientific Aspect of Sensory Perception in Nyaayashaastra – an analysis
Roopa Vijay
Doctoral Research Scholar
Department of Language and Literature
Karnataka Samskrit University, Bangalore – 560 018
Email – raroopa2024@gmail.com
Abstract:
This paper has the objective of finding how the scientific ideas about Sensory Perception are relevant in Nyaayashaastra. This is a theoretical attempt to rethink the words used in nyaayashaastra and present ideas in physiology and find similarities and contradictions. It is observed that some important sentences suit the ideas in physiology.
Keywords
Science, Sensory Perception, Physiology, Nyayashastra
Acknowledgement
I thank late Dr .B. V. Venkataramana and Dr. Srivenkatanathan, Department of Nyaayashaastra, K.S.U for their guidance.
Introduction
Nyaayashaastra is a philosophy known for theories of logic, methodology and epistemology. It can be considered as the science of right judgement or true reasoning. The Nyaayasootras of sage Gautama have an important place in Nyaayashaastra.
One of the fundamental principles in the book is that reality remains true regardless of our awareness of it.[i] यथार्थानुभवः प्रमा । The knowledge got due to experience by cognition can be considered as Pramaa. प्रमाकरणं प्रमाणम् ।[ii]. This refers tothe uncommon cause, the karana (instrument) of valid knowledge or pramaa is called pramana. The way by which we can achieve valid knowledge is called pramana. Valid knowledge is of four types – Pratyaksha gyaanam (knowledge by sensing), anumiti gyaanam (knowledge by inference), upamiti gyaanam (knowledge by comparision) and shabda gyaanam (knowledge by hearing- verbal testimony) and the sources of valid knowledge – Pratyaksha pramaanam, anumaana pramaanam, upamaana pramaanam and shabda pramaanam, which can be used as the proof. [iii]
Physiology is a branch of Science, which is the study of the way of how the body functions normally. ‘Physio’ means ‘natural’ and ‘logos’ means ‘reason and logic used to support claim’ and this involves the functioning from cellular to organ to whole body levels. This is regarding the study of cardiovascular, circulatory, respiratory, renal, nervous and many more systems.[iv]
Pratyaksham and Sannikarsha
According to Gautama, in1.1.4 nyaayasootra, इन्द्रियार्थसन्निकर्षोत्पन्नं ज्ञानम् अव्यपदेश्यम् अव्यभिचारि व्यवसायात्मकं प्रत्यक्षम्। [v] Indriyam is the karanam (instrument) and sannikarsha is the vyaapaara that leads to gyaanam. ‘avyapadeshya’ refers to ‘which is not due to words’, ‘avyabhicaari’ means infalliable and ‘vyavasaayaatmakam’ refers to ‘must be sure or certain’. The object (artha) means substance or physical object (dravya) and quality (guna) including colour (roopa), taste (rasa), sound (dhvani or shabda), smell (gandha) or pleasure/pain(aantarika guna). Only if the knowledge due to sense-object relation has the three above characteristics, it is considered valid.
In the nyaayasutra 1.1.12 he mentions the five external sense organs of smell, taste, sight, touch and hearing. घ्राणरसनचक्षुस्त्वक्छ्रोत्राणि इन्द्रियाणि भूतेभ्यः।[vi] He has mentioned that they are produced from earth and other panchabhootas. Some people consider that he has accepted manas or mind as having sensing ability.
Indriyas are considered six in number by Naiyaayikas and Vaisheshikas – 5 external and one internal (manas).
According to Uddyotakaara and Annambhatta, there are 6 types of sannikarsha (sense-object relation) [vii]–
संयोगः Conjunction – Direct relation of sense organ with object e.g eyes see the pot
समवायः Inherence – Inherent relation of sense organ with object e.g ear hears sound
संयुक्त समवाय Inherence in what is Conjoined e.g Colour and the pot
समवेत समवाय Inherence in what is Inherent e.g Shabdatva(soundness) and shabda (sound)
संयुक्त समवेत समवाय Inherence in what is Inherent in that which is Conjoined e.g Roopatvam (colourness), Roopam(colour) and Pot
विशेषणविशेष्यभावः Adjunct substansive relation – Direct relation of sense organ with object where there is Nonexistence of the object e.g absence of pot on the floor Hence sense-object contact necessarily presupposes the manas-sense contact and self-manas contact.[viii]
Sense organs in Physiology
Science considers the five sense organs – eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin and their sensing abilities like sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch or feeling. Some mention about the sixth and seventh senses. Sixth sense is the ability to know something without using the five sense organ e.g. intuition, telepathy, clairvoyance, etc.
Both Central Nervous System and the immune system sense the micro-organisms in the body and inform the brain, sense environmental stimuli, release and respond to neurotransmitters and cytokines, etc. Dr. Kipnis calls immune system as the seventh sense.[ix]
Result
There has been lot of study done in Sanskrit about ‘manas’ and in Physiology with respect to each system, which is so vast. So, only some of it is mentioned.
1. Findings from the Nyaya literature –
As per 1.1.4 nyaayasootra mentioned above, the naiyayikas consider the gyaanam (knowledge) of perception of the object / matter via the sense organs, that is infalliable and certain, as valid. This is pratyaksham. The sense organs include the eye, ear, nose, tongue, skin and the mind.
The analysis of sense organ – object relation for various sannikarsha types according to some naiyaayikas –
| इन्द्रियम् or Sense organ | Type of Sannikarsha vyaapaara | Type of pratyaksham |
| चक्षुरिन्द्रियम् त्वक् इन्द्रियम् | संयोगः | चाक्षुषम् प्रत्यक्षम् त्वाचम् प्रत्यक्षम् |
| श्रवणेन्द्रियम् | समवायः | श्रावण /शब्दप्रत्यक्षम् |
| रसनेन्द्रियम् त्वक् इन्द्रियम् घ्राणेन्द्रियम् | संयुक्त समवाय सन्निकर्षः | रासनम् प्रत्यक्षम् त्वाचम् प्रत्यक्षम् घ्राणजम् प्रत्यक्षम् |
| श्रवणेन्द्रियम् | समवेत समवाय सन्निकर्षः | श्रावण /शब्दप्रत्यक्षम् |
| चक्षुरिन्द्रियम् | संयुक्त समवेत समवाय सन्निकर्षः | चाक्षुषम् प्रत्यक्षम् |
| चक्षुरिन्द्रियम् घटाभाववत् भूतलम् – विशेषणता घटाभावः – विशेष्यता | विशेषणविशेष्यभावः | चाक्षुषम् प्रत्यक्षम् त्वाचम् प्रत्यक्षम् |
The abhaava can be with respect to other sense organs also.
Finding from physiology literature –
In case of the eye, the object is sensed via light rays which are direct. In case of the tongue and the nose, the objects are sensed directly but via some means (saliva or air) and in case of ear, the sound is sensed as waves. In case of skin; the sensing is both direct touch as in conduction or convection or heat//cold waves via radiation.
This type of classification according to Naiyaayikas is comparable to the difference in catagories as mentioned.in the above physiological analysis.
2. Findings from the Nyaya literature –
Manas is also a sensing system or indriya. आत्मा मनसा संयुज्यते मन इन्द्रियेण इन्द्रियमर्थेन ततः प्रत्यक्षमुत्पद्यते। This well-known statement is attributed to Nyaayasootra of Gautama, where he has given the process or प्रक्रिया of the Naiyyayikas.
According to Science, the object is sensed by the sense organ either in the form of image or sound or taste or smell or feeling, specific to the sense organ. But if mentally pre-occupied with some other matter or busy or lacks concentration, the mind will not sense it. So mind senses it only if it is ready to receive messages from the sense organ. E.g if a person is preoccupied with some other matter, he will not see what is right in front, even with his eyes open. In this case there is no manas-indriya samyoga. It is true that only if there is samyoga between manas and sense organs, a person can sense things.
From this one can infer that ‘manas’ is that which does sensing activity and indicates the part of the nervous system, which senses from all sense organs and carries out some other functions also.
Gautama feels that aatma and manas have to be synchronized. It is said there is gyaana based on samskaara, which is pre-determined and only if there is synchronization of the atmaa with the mind, the incident occurs. This idea about ‘aatma’ may have not been proven.
The self-manas contact and manas-sense contact are the common cause of perceptual knowledge and sense-object contact is the uncommon cause of perceptual knowledge.[x]
But in Tarkasangraha it is mentioned as सुखाद्युपलब्धिसाधनमिन्द्रियं मनः। It is considered paramaanuroopa and nitya (eternal). [xi] This is debatable.
Finding from physiology literature –
Electrical signals in the brain are made up of the movement of ions e.g Na ++, Ca ++, K+ across the membranes of the neurons. Neurons have elaborate mechanisms for generating electrical signals. They carry the electric charge based on the ions. [xii] An ion is an atom or group of atoms with net electric charge. A Cation is positively charged with less electrons than protons and Anion negatively charged, with more electrons than protons.
These ions mentioned are atomic in nature with more protons than electrons i.e they are cations. This can be considered ‘paramaanuroopa’, as he had mentioned.
3. Findings from the Nyaya literature –
Indriya – artha sannikarsha refers to correlation or contact between sense organ and object. In this part of the line in nyaayasootra1.1.4, ‘ इन्द्रियार्थसन्निकर्षोत्पन्नं ज्ञानम् ‘ there is the word सन्निकर्षः. This word is derived from upasargas सम् (together) नि (close / come before) and कृष् धातु (attract). This means proximity or nearness, relation or connection, coming close or contact.
Finding from physiology literature –
Process [xiii]
- In case of the eye, sense organs of vision, the reflected light rays from an object or direct rays from the light source pass through the eye lens and form an inverted image on the retina. The rods, cones, which are photo-receptors and through the optic nerve, signals are sent to the brain which translates the messages to perception of brightness, shape, movement, colour, etc. They convert the light energy into action potentials of nerve fibers.
- In case of the ear, the sense organ of hearing, the sound waves from the source pass through the ear canal in the external ear, reach the tympanum and the air filled middle ear consisting of three bones which vibrate and carry vibrations to the auditory canal in the inner ear where the sound receptors detect sound and transduce the mechanical stimulus into electrical stimulus, which is conveyed by auditory nerve to the brain. The brain perceives this as sound.
- In case of the tongue, the sense organ of taste, it is a strong muscle in the mouth covered with papillae, which have taste buds on their sides. These recognize the sweet(madhura), salty(lavana), sour(amla), bitter(tikta), mainly and hot or pungent( Katu) and and astringent(Kashaaya) tastes. The mechanism of taste involves – Initiation, where solid is made semisolid due to salivary secretion or liquid, which can reach the taste buds that sense taste. The movement of the tongue muscle and chewing action the food is uniformly distributed and disrupt the taste concentration at a particular place. The taste perceived by taste cells transmit electrical signals via the nerve cells, solitary tract nucleus, thalamus and the cortex in the Central Nervous System. Taste Receptors in the brain identify the different tastes.
- In case of the nose, the sense organ of smell, the olfactory epithelium contacts the odourants inhaled. The dendrites in the olfactory receptor neurons transduce molecular features to electrical signals which travel along olfactory nerve to the bulb, the mitral cells and to the piriform cortex and other areas.
- In case of skin, there are receptors which sense pain, temperature, pricks, etc..As soon as the receptor cell feels the stimulus, it brings a change in the membrane, so that Na++ ion channels become more permeable. The depolarization changes the receptor potential and then the action potential is generated. There is electrical energy in the nerve cells, which is conveyed to the brain.
Thus all the above mentioned processes show that there is very close contact of sense organ and object – directly or indirectly.
The basic idea in physiology is mentioned here. The functioning of the brain and other associated parts is much more sophisticated than what is mentioned here.
4. These ideas are contradicting to some extent –
युगपज्ज्ञानानुत्पत्तिः मनसो लिङ्गम्॥ 1.1.15 [xiv] At one time the mind, that is atomic, cannot perceive or sense many objects together.– this was Gautama’s opinion.
But it is proven and experienced that we can sense via eyes, hear by the ears, taste by the tongue, smell by the nose and sense touch at the same time. The sensing system is able to multitask or do many tasks at the same time.
रश्म्यर्थसन्निकर्षविशेषात्तद्ग्रहणम् ॥ 3.2.32 [xv]
He has also mentioned a few verses about the eyeball being materialistic or not and expresses doubt if the light rays can cause the sensing of the object that is seen. He has said that we do not see the actual light rays coming from the object and so the light rays are not perceived by the eye.
As a thinker he has come quite close to reality. It is the eyeball containing the eye-lens which focuses the light rays to produce an internal, inverted, real image on the retina and this is later sensed as mentioned above.
As he said, we do not see the actual rays emitted by the object but we do understand that the image formed on the retina is due to the light rays from the object.
Conclusion
- The present scientific knowledge also considers the five sense organs like in Nyaayashaastra. Some authors refer to something called the sixth sense and seventh sense in science and the Nyaaya philosophy considers ‘manas’ as the internal sense organ, the sixth one.
- It can be inferred that ‘manas’ is a sensing system or indriya and refers to some parts of the nervous system.
- It can be considered ‘paramaanuroopa’ as the electrical signals are made of ions, which are parts, sometimes smaller than the atom. It can be considered as a system that works.
- As Gautama and other Naiyayikas mentioned, there is very close contact between the sense organs and the object.
All the above mentioned processes show that there is very close contact – the light rays touch the cornea and pass through the eye-lens to reach the retina, the sound waves pass through the ear and touch the tympanum, the odourants are inhaled to reach the olfactory receptors, the food is placed on the tongue and the receptors on the skin (external or internal) feel the touch, heat waves or pain from some object.
- As thinkers, they have played their part and science has been built up over centuries and now we are finding answers to various doubts.
It can be concluded that the results of the study have led to a deeper understanding of the topic of sensory perceptions and it will pave way for better research on the topic, in future. This paper theoretically focuses on giving recognition and value to such a great scripture Nyaayashaastra as well as Gautama, who wrote the nyaayasootras, Annambhatta, who wrote Tarkasangraha and other Naiyaayikas.
[i] Relevance of Nyayasutras in Modern Age
[ii] Annambhatta’s Tarkasansraha
[iii] IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science
[iv] Applied Physiology
[v] Nyayasutra of Gotama
[vi] Nyayasutra of Gotama
[vii] Tarkasangraha of Annambhatta
[viii] A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy
[ix] Journal of Experimental Medicine
[x] IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science
[xi] M.A Sanskrit Tarkasangraha
[xii] Neuroscience / Chapter 2 – Electrical signals in nerve cells
[xiii] Applied Physiology
[xiv] Nyayasutra of Gotama
[xv] Nyayasutra of Gotama
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